Haines

Day 81 and we are in Haines… Reality is beginning to set in; we only have a few days left in Alaska. It’s hard to believe; but, in a few days we will be on a ferry heading south. With such little time left, what do we do? We tried to cram as much as possible into our remaining days, try different restruants, visit museums, shops and more shops or go watch the bears? Maybe we should go to Skagway for a day? Anyway, the big winner for our time was...the BEARS. However, the thoughts of hot weather, traffic, large crowds, buildings everywhere, etc., etc. keep coming back, do we really have to leave? Haines is another nice little town like others we have visited, surrounded by mountains and sitting on the water. Of the little towns (villages) we have visited, Haines and Valdez get the least number of cruise ships and are not nearly as crowded as the others. The people in Haines are very friendly and willing to help anyway they can. It was a pleasure to spend time with different locals learning the history of the town. From church to eating out and shopping in every store (some twice), all the people really make us feel at home.

Main street in Haines headed to the waterfront

Another view of downtown with a nice private yacht in the background

Welcome to the boat docks

A couple of pictures from in front of the Hammer Museum in Haines.

Totem pole on the Chilkoot River outside of Haines. There are many Totem poles throughout Alaska.

Our first campsite in Haines.

Views from our first campsite. The same yacht we saw from downtown anchored right in front of our campsite. In the second picture notice the cruise ship in the background. This is one of many cruise ships that go Skagway.

Pictures of and from our new campsite. We really liked this site. It was approximately nine miles out of Haines located on the Chilkoot River. It was much quiter and for a bonus, we could sit on our porch and watch the bears feed.

Another cruise ship leaving for Skagway.

Some views from around Haines. This is beautiful Rainbow Glacier with a waterfall beneath the glacier.